Correlating LSAT and GPA

How Does Your GPA Reflect in Your LSAT Performance?

The confusion between the importance of LSAT's scores and GPA is
often present in the minds of those who want to apply to law schools
and begin a career in law. In this article, we explain what these two
mean as far as acceptance into law schools is concerned and what you
can do if you are not happy with these scores.

Criteria for Admission into Law School:

Law schools consider a candidate's GPA, LSAT's scores,
community service, work experience and whether the candidate belongs to
a minority group or not and certain other not-so-important criteria.

What is the relation between LSAT and GPA?

Many people are mostly confused about whether they should give more
priority to their LSAT's result or their GPA. The answer to this
dilemma is that both these scores are considered by law schools when
you apply to them for admission to their courses. Naturally, the higher
your scores in both areas, the better are your chances of acceptance
into the law schools you apply to. The top law schools will be looking
for high scores, in both fields, from their potential students.

There is another aspect to this
correlation. From the point of view of the law schools, the LSAT
and the GPA reflect different abilities of the applicants. The former
tells the level of the skills the candidate possesses; the same
skills that will be necessary in order to successfully complete the law
courses. The latter tells the law schools about the candidate's earlier
academic performance. This is why law schools consider results from
both these before accepting or rejecting an application for admission.

Which is More Important, LSAT, GPA or Any Other Criteria?

While there are a variety of criteria considered
for admission into law schools, the LSAT's score is probably the most
important of all of them. However, the GPA is a close second and the
remaining criteria play a role in very few of the admissions
into law schools.

Can a High LSAT Score Make Up For a Low GPA?

This is a common query in the minds of almost all potential law
school students. The answer to this one is that to some extent you can
cover up for the deficiency of one with the other but only within
limits. If either of the scores is too low, you will find it difficult
to get into a good law school.

Who is a 'Splitter' and Who is a 'Reverse Splitter'?

A 'splitter' is a conventional term for someone who has a high LSAT
score relative to a low GPA. A 'reverse splitter' is someone who has
the reverse, a low LSAT score and a high GPA.

If you do decide to attempt the test
again in an effort to improve your scores, bear in mind that most law
schools will consider the average marks of all your attempts and not
just
your highest score. The LSAC does not entertain requests for partial
scores, hence your entire test
history will be available to the law schools. The attempt to improve
will really work only if you genuinely feel that a low score does not
reflect your true abilities. If this is the case, then more rigorous
preparation with prep classes, may be able to help you.

Measure Whether Your LSAT, GPA and Other Criteria Are Enough For Law School Admissions:

You can measure whether your marks in LSAT and GPA are good enough to get you into law school by using websites such as www.lsac.org and www.lawschoolpredictor.com . You can enter the respective scores and these websites will inform you what your chances are at most of the law schools.